According to third LDS President
John Taylor, "There is not a principle associated with
the gospel of the Son of God but what is eternal in its
nature and consequences, and we cannot with impunity
trample upon any principle that is correct without having
to suffer the penalty thereof before God and the holy
angels, and in many instances before men. The principles
of the gospel being eternal, they were framed and
originated with the Almighty in eternity before the world
was according to certain eternal laws, and hence the
gospel is called the everlasting gospel" (The
Gospel Kingdom, p.90).
Thirteenth President Ezra Taft
Benson agreed "Eternal laws exist universally. They are
present alike in the spiritual as well as in the physical
world. These priceless, fundamental principles and values
never change. Many of these are set forth in the
Decalogue, Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and in the
revelations of God to His prophets. It is therefore of the
utmost importance that men and nations seek prayerfully to
know these eternal laws that they may render obedience to
them" (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.116).
The Mormon concept of eternal law
is flawed for two serious reasons. For one, Mormonism does
not allow for an eternal lawgiver. While Mormonism allows
for the existence of virtually millions of Gods, none of
them have held this position eternally. Even the
one they currently worship has not eternally existed as
God. According to LDS Apostle Orson Hyde, "Remember
that God our Heavenly Father was perhaps once a child, and
mortal like we are, and rose step by step in the scale of
progress, in the school of advancement; has moved forward
and overcome until He has arrived at the point where He
now is" (Journal of Discourses 1:123).
Comments from LDS leaders that
speak of their God establishing eternal laws have no
meaning when carried to a logical conclusion. Seventy
Milton R. Hunter taught that God "became God by
absolute obedience to all eternal laws of the Gospel"
(The Gospel Through the Ages, p.115). If only a God
can establish such laws-and no God according to Mormonism
has held the position of God eternally-it stands to reason
that there is really no such thing as eternal laws
according to Mormonism.
The eternal law concept is also
flawed since the LDS Church has adopted a concept known as
latter-day revelation. This unique belief not only allows
Mormon leaders to espouse non-provable and non-biblical
ideas as fact, but it also allows these men to actually
revoke teachings that Mormons were once taught as being
irrevocable.
While many Mormons see modern
revelation as proof that God speaks to their leaders, they
fail to acknowledge that many of those principles that
have changed over the years were principles that earlier
leaders said could not change. Behavior that was
considered sin by many LDS leaders of the past is now
permissible and supposedly blessed by God. Reason compels
us to ask how this can be. Assuming God cannot make a
mistake such as this, we can only assume the blame lies at
the feet of men. This is difficult for Mormons to concede.
